Thread by @BenDoBrown

Great example of how geolocation and crowdsourcing works to assist investigations. @EmmanuelFreuden needed a video geolocated of buildings that had been burnt - hints were it was Kumbo in Cameroon. The following is how it was found. #Geolocation #OSINT Thread 1/👇

2/ There were direct clues in this video, which @Sector035 picked up a location for, in conjunction with tipoffs from @EmmanuelFreuden - they were tong structure, red roof, concrete square structure, long building and a light coloured roof. goo.gl/maps/h41Bn9zz1…

3/ In the video, we are also able to identify "GPS Bookstore". Plug that into Google and you get this result. camerlex.com/kumbo-gps-book… - It says "Squars" or Squares - an area in Kumbo.

4/ We can follow that further by searching @YouTube content by searching for "Kumbo" and "Squares". What we get is a video shot in a very similar looking location.

5/ Turns out, these videos were shot in the exact location of where the video of the burning building was. We can see this by matching up some crucial features such as this building in mid-construction phase.

6/ And the red long building initially pointed out by shadow wizard @Sector035. (goo.gl/maps/gAmDzDEA9…)

7/ So where do these sit on the map? We find the features by matching them up with the video we are verifying. Here is the mid-construction building on the left.

8/ Here is the long red building (goo.gl/maps/gAmDzDEA9…), its archway and the further buildings down the street.

9/ In fact, with the video content available on @YouTube we can see the stores that are now burnt and destroyed. This is the video:

10/ Hoping that with this role of open source work in #geolocation, that @EmmanuelFreuden now has more details to find the reason behind why these small businesses in #Kumbo #Cameroon were burnt.

11/ Thanks to open source investigator @y_vdw (who worked on the #BBCAfricaEye Cameroon investigation) we have found out about another devastating event of a village burning in #Cameroon - this time in Kumfutu (

https://twitter.com/y_vdw/status/1064315783642316802

) Evidence is in the video 👇

12/ To find evidence of what happened and to determine exactly where, on @Facebook, we can run a simple search on "Kumfutu" - the result was these images of a specific building in #Kumfutu. Geolocating this will help for any future investigations to find out what happened here.

13/ This building in Kumfutu, #Cameroon, can be seen in the video too and it has some specific features, as well as adjoining buildings, that are able to #geolocate on @googleearth.

14/ The location of the building is here: goo.gl/maps/Dfphh2NcZ…. Unique features of its extended front, joining long building at the rear, and the side shed match, as well as the red-roofed building and its partnering shed, all of which were destroyed. #Geolocation

15/ The work we’ve done here with @EmmanuelFreuden @Sector035 @y_vdw and @Nrg8000 documents geolocated evidence of deliberate burnings of homes and shops in Cameroon #Kumfutu & #Kumbo. Full report with @bellingcat 👇
bellingcat.com/resources/case…@